At 2 o'clock the morning of the 17th of February, I woke at my usual bathroom trip time to find that my water had broke and was trickling down my legs as I walked to the bathroom. I quickly realized that it was meconium stained and that I wasn't contracting. I woke Albert and called my mom and together decided that I had better get to the hospital. We had planned to do a majority of the labor at home, with the children. I was disappointed that things were not going as planned. We dropped the children at Albert's Mom's house and started towards the hospital. Just as we got on the highway I had my first major contraction. This was at 3 AM. I called my midwife, Barbara who met us there. She didn't seem very concerned about the meconium so I relaxed a bit about it as well. Baby's heart rate was excellent the entire labor. I progressed steadily and more quickly than I had with James and Hannah. I assumed any position I wanted, including the Jacuzzi. I was all over the hospital, that floor and my room. I was rarely in bed. I asked Albert to call Lea, my friend to come and take pictures. She brought her 8 year old along who waited with my kids for pushing to begin. Albert was invaluable to me throughout labor. My favorite position was dangling from him with my hands threaded around the back of his neck. I also liked the birth dance where I would rock my hips around and around like a hula dancer. By about 10 or 11 AM I was not talking AT ALL and desired perfect peace and quiet. I brought along some CD's but when it came time to play them I really didn't want them. I thought of all the women who brought forth life before me. I was wearing my birthing necklace, made by my email list where each woman contributed a bead and I gained strength from that. I wouldn't talk to anyone. I made any noises I felt like. By noon, I had stalled at 8 cm for well over an hour. That was SO tough. Lea was great for giving me affirming statements. My midwives had to change at noon and Rebecca came in, and consulted with the OB on call and suggested a few labor stimulating techniques and asked about cytotec. I refused to answer her; after all, I wasn't talking and was in no position to be making any decision at all. In hindsight this worked out the best (me not giving her an answer) because I progressed just fine from then on. A lbert stimulated my nipples and that must have been all I needed because by 2 o'clock I was pushing. This part was SO amazing. Rebecca didn't even check me again after that. She knew from the sounds I was making that they were good, pushing contractions. She kept saying, "push when you feel like it" and "do what your body is telling you to do" without having checked me again! I started getting VERY vocal at this point. I had one VERY effective contraction where my body just took over and I roared like a lion! I'm serious! If I weren't so preoccupied, I would have laughed to hear an adult woman make such a good imitation of a real lion! At that moment I had such a huge serge of power going through me, that I thought that if I had jumped I swear I could have moved the Earth off its axis! Wow, the power!! It was so amazing. About now, someone went to get James and Hannah and mother-in-law and aunt-in-law from the waiting room. The head came out fine but his shoulders were a tiny bit stuck and there was a bit of chaos as they pushed my legs back to help the shoulders come out. He had his hand up by his shoulders, which made the circumference around his check with his hand added in, larger than his head. He was completely out and someone asked what it was. Hannah got to announce that indeed he was a boy. It was important to me that my children get to be the first to announce the sex. Colton did have trouble taking his first breath, and after we realized that his cord was no longer pulsating I consented to cutting it and the nursery nurse had to give him some oxygen to get him started.

Colton Silas was born at 2:12 PM on the 17th (hey isn't that not even one day of labor?) and weighed in at a hefty 11 pounds and 4 ounces, with a 15 inch head and 21 ½ inches in length. He's fat and healthy and we are enjoying him immensely!

-February 26th, 2003